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DeSmidt’s Collaborative Efforts Results in NASA Award

MABE Professor Hans DeSmidt is part of the Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology (RVLT) Advanced Propulsion Team that received the NASA Agency Honor Award, one of the highest awards in the agency. The team was recognized at the 2018 Agency Honor and Center Awards Ceremony in September.

The award was given in recognition of the exceptional contributions the team has made to NASA’s mission and purpose in the area of rotary-wing aircraft and vertical flight technology.

The team developed innovative technologies that efficiently reduce the main rotor speed between hover and cruise for the next generation of high-speed vertical lift vehicles, overcoming barriers for reduced noise, fuel burn and operating cost and increased speed, payload and range.

The RVLT program was created by forming a collaboration between industry, universities, and government agencies to fulfill NASA’s vision for vertical lift vehicles to capitalize and improve unique vertical capabilities to greatly benefit the Nation’s growing civil flight requirements.